As most of you know, I’m very interested in the ways that non-technical people use Emacs and ways of making Emacs more accessible to such people. Ashton Wiersdorf is a technical user married to a non-technical writer looking for a better way to wrangle text. Being an Emacs user, Wiersdorf naturally thought of Emacs but worried that it was too intimidating for non-technical users so he built emacs-writer, simple configuration purpose-built for writers.
Wiersdorf makes a point of saying that this is still a work in progress and that you shouldn’t inflict it on a loved one unless you’re willing to provide technical support. Still, it seems like a nice project that can be easily adapted for individual needs.
I think this is a great project as long as its intended users understand that it’s a “starter kit.” I use Emacs for writing all the time and a lot of the features I use everyday are add-ons that users add as they become more experienced. If you plan on using emacs-writer forever, you’re missing the real power that Emacs has to offer. On the other hand, it makes a great configuration to start with and there’s not reason you can’t add to it as you become more experienced with Emacs.
In any event, it’s worth following this project if you have someone who could benefit from a real text editor. As Wiersdorf says at the top of the README,
“Writing should be all about the words. But word processors like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Apple’s Pages force you to think about formatting as you compose.”